BICENTENNIAL ISSUES RELEASED

On August 20, 2004 Haïti released to the public two of its six 2004 bicentennial commemorative banknotes; the 10 Gourdes with the portrait of heroine Lt. Sanite Belair and the 25 Gourdes depicting General Nicolas Geffrard. The remaining 4 notes in this series have now also been released to the public. In August the notes were initially held back due to lack of demand form the participating banks. For the first time the banknotes of Haïti have been executed in both French and Kreyòl. Designed by Haïtian architect and painter, Daniel Elie, the bicentennial issues portray the most significant leaders of the revolution. Joseph Guerdy-Lissade, President of the Haïtian Numismatic Society contributed his extensive numismatic knowledge to these wonderful designs. On the back of each note are the fortifications which were instrumental in winning their victory over the French.

These new notes will be listed in the next update of the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money as #272 through #277 for the 10 Gourdes through 500 Gourdes dated 2004.

In addition to the six banknotes, the Central Bank also prepared a limited edition 2004 calendar privately printed in Germany. A total of 2000 pieces were prepared with one of each new banknote numbered A0000001 to A0002000. The calendar is in French and contains beautiful images of the fortifications and additional detail about the leaders featured on this series. The banknotes are placed in clear open ended holders so they can be removed from the calendar without damaging them.